Reviews > Knives > Fixed Blade > Short Black KA-BAR, Serrated Edge > Owner Review by Brian Tannehill

Backpacking Background:

I am fairly new to backpacking, but I have hunted/fished/camped all my life in East Texas, Colorado, and California. My young kids (4, 10, 12) limit me to weekend overnight camping trips, or day hikes Geocaching. I am also an avid mountain biker. For now I live in the Central Coast area of California (Lompoc, Santa Maria area), and am surrounded by many different areas from beaches to mountain regions ranging up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m), with the temperatures averaging about 60 F (16 C) degrees year round.

Product Information:

Manufacturer: KA-BAR
Year of Manufacture: 2000
URL: https://www.kabar.com
Weight of knife only: 6 3/8 oz (180 g)
Weight of Kydex® sheath: 3 1/2 oz (98 g)
Weight of both knife and sheath: 9 7/8 oz (278 g)

Field Locations:

I bought this knife about four years ago in Colorado Springs. It has been my primary knife when I go hunting, camping or hiking. I went with the shorter more compact KA-BAR because I liked the way it felt over the standard KA-BAR. It was smaller, lighter, and fit my hand better than the bigger KA-BAR

Usages:

There's just something about carrying a bigger knife. I say bigger because it is bigger than all the folding knives I carry, and I carry a lot of folding knives. This knife has been used for anything from skinning animals to cutting small pieces of firewood. I have resorted to using it mainly for splitting small kindling for fires now. It's handy that I can hammer on the back of the blade to split wood without worrying about damaging the knife.

Blade:

The blade is made from 1095 carbon steel. This material has held up great over the last few years. It also has a black powder coat on it. The overall blade length is 5 1/4 in (13.3 cm) while the blade plus the handle is 9 1/4 in (23.5 cm) long. The back side of the blade is 1/8 in (.3 cm) thick. This easily allows me to hit it with a solid piece of wood when I split kindling. The first inch past the handle is serrated while the rest of the blade all the way to the tip is smooth. The advantage of the seration is it saws a little better than a smooth blade. The blade has not rusted any but the black coating has worn off in places, mainly where it has split wood down the middle of the knife. The one thing I did when I got it was to run a few drops of oil inside the sheath to keep the knife oiled up.

Grip:

The grip is not the standard leather like all other KA-BARs. Instead it's a rubber type material called Kraton G. I like the way the rubber feels and it has not dried out or cracked in the last four years. It is also a very durable material and has not chipped nor torn anywhere.

Sheath:

The sheath is made of Kydex®, which makes it a tad lighter than the leather sheath most KA-BARs come with. This sheath has taken a beating over the years and it shows it. I finally broke it the other day using it in a manner for which it was not intended. Below the main snap is the KA-BAR insignia. There are two snap closures to hold the knife in place which I thought was a bit of overkill. One snap closure runs over the finger guard and another snap closer runs around the top of the handle. The only reason I can see to have that one is to keep the handle from flopping out from the belt loop on the sheath. The belt loop is about 3 1/2 in (8.9 cm) long and could easily fit over any belt. There is one clip on the sheath I have not found out how to use ever. The back of the clip says it's a sliplok, but it looks more like a buckle to weave webbing through. It is noticable on the very end of the sheath in the above picture.

The one thing I absolutely do not like about the sheath is that the knife does not make a good fit in the sheath. There is no locking or clicking sensation when you sheath it. The snaps are still fairly hard to unsnap so I usually don't snap any of them while I'm out hiking. To solve this problem I added a few strips of black electrical tape around the part of the blade between the serrations and the fingerguards. This piece of blade is solid square and has no cutting ability at all so this makes a perfect place for the tape. I added enough strips that the knife can take a good jolt before it comes out. I like this because I know the knife is sheathed and not moving.

Pros and Cons:

Overall this is an excellent knife. I love the way it feels in my hand. It's solid as a rock as you would expect any KA-BAR to feel. The blade holds an edge very well but I am horrible about sharpening and keeping my blades sharp.

Some of the things I like about this knife:
Great solid feeling knife
Blade has not rusted
Smaller compact size

The one thing I don't like about this knife:
Knife does not "lock" into sheath without snapping it.

Brian

Read more reviews of KA-BAR gear
Read more gear reviews by Brian Tannehill

Reviews > Knives > Fixed Blade > Short Black KA-BAR, Serrated Edge > Owner Review by Brian Tannehill